Back after a long time with birth story (long) and a couple pics
Hey all.
I'm sorry to have totally disappeared and never checked in after I gave birth. We were waiting and waiting, and then I had Molly, and I totally forgot to come here and let you know. Now here it all is in retrospect!
On Monday, 11/15 I went into Jordan Hospital in the morning for an ultrasound and non-stress test. The NST was perfect, but I had low amniotic fluid on the ultrasound. At this point she was 13 days late. They suggested I start the process towards induction, particularly since I wasn't so low on fluid that it was an emergency and we could approach things in a step-wise fashion. I wasn't dilated or effaced at all. The laborist explained that I could afford to take things slowly if I wanted.
I called Joe, who was in a meeting. The guy who answered the phone asked if I wanted to leave a message and I said, "No, go get him." I was feeling quivery and nervous, and stopped at Panera to have lunch before being admitted at 2:30pm. We were assigned our room (#203) and got settled in. The laborist came in, and as we had discussed earlier, prescribed me Cytotec, which would start dilation and perhaps even induce me somewhat. The schedule with Cytotec was that I would take a pill (well, a tiny piece of a pill, really) and spend 4 hours on the monitors, then have 2 hours off. I started it in the early evening, and we started waiting. The 4-on, 2-off cycle continued, and I wasn't really dilating much, only 1 cm or so. I had some light contractions. Sleeping with the monitor was annoying because I couldn't move without it shifting out of place. My hips hurt from labor and being in one position. At one point I had to stay on my back, which was really painful for laboring.
On Tuesday the laborist suggested that in addition to the Cytotec that I try having a balloon catheter placed above and below my cervix to help me dilate. I think that was a relatively new thing, because everyone seemed really curious about it, how I was feeling, and so on. A bunch of people came in to watch the insertion. The balloon was supposed to fall out when I reached 3cm, which happened Tuesday evening. That also coincided roughly with my last Cytotec pill (you're only allowed to take 6 total). We had hoped that labor would progress on its own from the Cytotec and balloon, but no such luck. We discussed starting a low dose of Pitocin the next morning, and they broke my water to see if that might also move things along. The best part of that was it meant that they could put the internal monitor on. I got to have a couple of hours of much-needed sleep without trying to manage the strap monitor. I was still in early labor throughout.
There were some more urgent cases on the floor on Wednesday morning, so my 7am Pitocin drip ended up being an 11am Pitocin drip. Once they started the Pitocin (a very low dose) I started progressing a little faster. My plan was to labor naturally, so I spent a lot of time walking around, bouncing on the ball, doing squats, rocking in the rocking chair, and leaning on the windowsill. Joe helped me with the breathing, and I also spent a lot of time using the hinges of the bathroom door as my focal point, breathing through them up and down (there were three, and I would do a breathing cycle on #1, then #2, then #3, then back to #1...) The contractions weren't registering well on the internal monitor, so I pushed a little button every time I had one to help inform the nurses.
The anesthesiologist came in to let me know that if I wanted an epidural it would be best to have it around 5-6cm - at that point I was somewhere around 4cm. I told him I didn't think I would need it. After a little while, my blood pressure was getting higher and concerning the labor nurses and the laborist. They told me I would have to get back into bed and labor there. I knew I would be in too much pain - I could manage natural labor if I was allowed to move around, but I couldn't do it laying in bed. I told them to get the anesthesiologist for the epidural. Beforehand, a phlebotomist came in to take some blood for a platelet check (required before epidural apparently) and had trouble finding a vein on my non-IV arm (I have one "good" arm and one "bad" arm) - she distracted me so much that the labor got the best of me and it really started hurting. The laborist actually told her to forget it, and they sat me on the bed for the epidural. I was ok for that process, keeping still and calm (as much as I could). They did the test dose and I could feel my legs getting numb. Then, my blood pressure crashed. I started feeling very dizzy. They brought down the epidural and started giving me epinephrine. Eventually they got it under control, and I had a lower-dose epidural. Then I slept (at this point I think it was around 4pm or so). They told me they would wake me up when it was time to push.
I woke up myself when the pain started pushing through - it was about 9:15pm and I was 9cm. The OB told me she would be back in an hour to check and see if I was 10cm and ready to push. I labored, still doing my breathing with Joe. After about 40 minutes I told him and the labor nurse, "I think I'm ready! Go get the doctor." The nurse checked, and I was 10cm! I started pushing, telling them when the strongest parts of the contractions were coming and trying for 3 good 10-second pushes with each contraction. They set up a birthing bar over the bed because I was bowling the nurse over - I could put my feet up on it and pull myself up with a towel looped around it, which really helped me get into the right position. I eventually was telling them I wanted to try for 4 good pushes with each contraction. The OB and the nurses were rushing to set things up, and they told me to slow down just a little bit just as she was about to come out so the OB could get into position. One more push, and Molly Catherine was born at 10:40pm on November 17th, 56 hours after I was admitted. It took 40 minutes of pushing though. :P She was 8 lbs, 6oz and 20.5 inches long. She was (and is) wonderful - big open eyes and totally adorable.
The post-script to the story is that I pulled both my calf muscles using the birthing bar (too strong for my own good, apparently.) I had trouble walking in the days after giving birth, and a week after giving birth (2 days before Thanksgiving) I had a terrible pain behind my knee. I thought maybe my calf muscle had detached, but it turned out that I had a blood clot. I had to do 6 days of injectable blood thinners plus take Coumadin (I actually just finished my 3-month course last week.) We had a few awful days where I was in pain because of the clot and my calves, plus the ER doctor told me that I couldn't breastfeed on the drugs (not true) so I was feeling traumatized (my milk had just come in a couple days prior). Fortunately, I pumped and saved the milk so it turned out not to be a big deal, but we were scrambling trying to reach the lactation consultant during the Thanksgiving holiday. Of course, that all seems like a distant memory now!
Molly @ 2.5 weeks
Molly @ 13 weeks
I'm sorry to have totally disappeared and never checked in after I gave birth. We were waiting and waiting, and then I had Molly, and I totally forgot to come here and let you know. Now here it all is in retrospect!
On Monday, 11/15 I went into Jordan Hospital in the morning for an ultrasound and non-stress test. The NST was perfect, but I had low amniotic fluid on the ultrasound. At this point she was 13 days late. They suggested I start the process towards induction, particularly since I wasn't so low on fluid that it was an emergency and we could approach things in a step-wise fashion. I wasn't dilated or effaced at all. The laborist explained that I could afford to take things slowly if I wanted.
I called Joe, who was in a meeting. The guy who answered the phone asked if I wanted to leave a message and I said, "No, go get him." I was feeling quivery and nervous, and stopped at Panera to have lunch before being admitted at 2:30pm. We were assigned our room (#203) and got settled in. The laborist came in, and as we had discussed earlier, prescribed me Cytotec, which would start dilation and perhaps even induce me somewhat. The schedule with Cytotec was that I would take a pill (well, a tiny piece of a pill, really) and spend 4 hours on the monitors, then have 2 hours off. I started it in the early evening, and we started waiting. The 4-on, 2-off cycle continued, and I wasn't really dilating much, only 1 cm or so. I had some light contractions. Sleeping with the monitor was annoying because I couldn't move without it shifting out of place. My hips hurt from labor and being in one position. At one point I had to stay on my back, which was really painful for laboring.
On Tuesday the laborist suggested that in addition to the Cytotec that I try having a balloon catheter placed above and below my cervix to help me dilate. I think that was a relatively new thing, because everyone seemed really curious about it, how I was feeling, and so on. A bunch of people came in to watch the insertion. The balloon was supposed to fall out when I reached 3cm, which happened Tuesday evening. That also coincided roughly with my last Cytotec pill (you're only allowed to take 6 total). We had hoped that labor would progress on its own from the Cytotec and balloon, but no such luck. We discussed starting a low dose of Pitocin the next morning, and they broke my water to see if that might also move things along. The best part of that was it meant that they could put the internal monitor on. I got to have a couple of hours of much-needed sleep without trying to manage the strap monitor. I was still in early labor throughout.
There were some more urgent cases on the floor on Wednesday morning, so my 7am Pitocin drip ended up being an 11am Pitocin drip. Once they started the Pitocin (a very low dose) I started progressing a little faster. My plan was to labor naturally, so I spent a lot of time walking around, bouncing on the ball, doing squats, rocking in the rocking chair, and leaning on the windowsill. Joe helped me with the breathing, and I also spent a lot of time using the hinges of the bathroom door as my focal point, breathing through them up and down (there were three, and I would do a breathing cycle on #1, then #2, then #3, then back to #1...) The contractions weren't registering well on the internal monitor, so I pushed a little button every time I had one to help inform the nurses.
The anesthesiologist came in to let me know that if I wanted an epidural it would be best to have it around 5-6cm - at that point I was somewhere around 4cm. I told him I didn't think I would need it. After a little while, my blood pressure was getting higher and concerning the labor nurses and the laborist. They told me I would have to get back into bed and labor there. I knew I would be in too much pain - I could manage natural labor if I was allowed to move around, but I couldn't do it laying in bed. I told them to get the anesthesiologist for the epidural. Beforehand, a phlebotomist came in to take some blood for a platelet check (required before epidural apparently) and had trouble finding a vein on my non-IV arm (I have one "good" arm and one "bad" arm) - she distracted me so much that the labor got the best of me and it really started hurting. The laborist actually told her to forget it, and they sat me on the bed for the epidural. I was ok for that process, keeping still and calm (as much as I could). They did the test dose and I could feel my legs getting numb. Then, my blood pressure crashed. I started feeling very dizzy. They brought down the epidural and started giving me epinephrine. Eventually they got it under control, and I had a lower-dose epidural. Then I slept (at this point I think it was around 4pm or so). They told me they would wake me up when it was time to push.
I woke up myself when the pain started pushing through - it was about 9:15pm and I was 9cm. The OB told me she would be back in an hour to check and see if I was 10cm and ready to push. I labored, still doing my breathing with Joe. After about 40 minutes I told him and the labor nurse, "I think I'm ready! Go get the doctor." The nurse checked, and I was 10cm! I started pushing, telling them when the strongest parts of the contractions were coming and trying for 3 good 10-second pushes with each contraction. They set up a birthing bar over the bed because I was bowling the nurse over - I could put my feet up on it and pull myself up with a towel looped around it, which really helped me get into the right position. I eventually was telling them I wanted to try for 4 good pushes with each contraction. The OB and the nurses were rushing to set things up, and they told me to slow down just a little bit just as she was about to come out so the OB could get into position. One more push, and Molly Catherine was born at 10:40pm on November 17th, 56 hours after I was admitted. It took 40 minutes of pushing though. :P She was 8 lbs, 6oz and 20.5 inches long. She was (and is) wonderful - big open eyes and totally adorable.
The post-script to the story is that I pulled both my calf muscles using the birthing bar (too strong for my own good, apparently.) I had trouble walking in the days after giving birth, and a week after giving birth (2 days before Thanksgiving) I had a terrible pain behind my knee. I thought maybe my calf muscle had detached, but it turned out that I had a blood clot. I had to do 6 days of injectable blood thinners plus take Coumadin (I actually just finished my 3-month course last week.) We had a few awful days where I was in pain because of the clot and my calves, plus the ER doctor told me that I couldn't breastfeed on the drugs (not true) so I was feeling traumatized (my milk had just come in a couple days prior). Fortunately, I pumped and saved the milk so it turned out not to be a big deal, but we were scrambling trying to reach the lactation consultant during the Thanksgiving holiday. Of course, that all seems like a distant memory now!
Molly @ 2.5 weeks
Molly @ 13 weeks
Pre-op: 347 High preg. wt: 331 Current: 284 Next goal: 283 Lowest post-op: 276
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